As I sit here and look back at the year of 2006 it's summed up best
by Preston from Ordinary Boys appearance on Celebrity Big Brother who blurred
the lines between what is mainstream and what is alternative? Looking at
many of the winners such as Panic! At The Disco who made us question not
only what emo was but also whether they're a rock or pop band through to
the fact that Sparks won Best Album Of The Year, an album which itself
defies categorization.

Also in the year that singles were talked about being phased out
in their physical format at least, there were more classic singles than
ever and that we had to pin it down to the Top 3 was nigh on impossible.

We were also forced to look at some of the worst aspects of 2006
which will be summed up by the fact that more Americans seem to like Snow
Patrol than any other British Band and the behaviour of Heather Mills-McCartney
made her the clear winner for Least Attractive Female of 2006.

Despite that by the end of the summer, the war on emo had been declared,
there was no doubting that the band of the year had to go to Panic! At
The Disco. Designer Magazine saw the band play their first UK live tour
earlier in the year before they'd ever released so much as a single or
album on these shores and they played to a rammed capacity crowd at Manchester
Academy 2. It was the sort of downloaded pandemonium that dwarfed that
of the Arctic Monkeys and by the end of the year they'd been the toast
of the MTV Awards and turned into New Romantic Emo boys while guitarist
and songwriter Ryan Ross had some drag queen Terminator look going on.
Classic debut album, some unforgettable live shows and a bright promising
future all made for a great 2006 for Panic! At The Disco.

BEST NEW BAND / ARTIST1. The Enemy
2. The Tigerpicks
3. Tiny Dancers

Just 100 people crammed into the Star & Garter earlier this year
to witness local band The Jakpot launch their EP, but it was support band
The Enemy who were destined to be the ones everybody were talking about.
At the time it was only their fifth ever gig and NME were yet to coin the
phrase New Midlands or whatever it was they called the likes of The Enemy,
The Twang and burgeoning scene that previously had been avoided like the
plague due to Ocean Colour Scene-itus. Managed by the same team as Boy
Kill Boy, The Enemy were in comparison an edgy punk band and the fact that
they were launched by word of mouth with people suspecting it was a mini-indie
supergroup featuring members of The Paddingtons, Boy Kill Boy and The Others
made it all the more hilarious. With support slots with The Paddingtons,
Milburn and The Futureheads under their wings they kick off 2007 with a
headline tour in January.

Although the likes of Panic! ATD, My Chemical Romance and Morrissey
had beaten Sparks to the artist of the year, when it came to the album
as a body of work there was no doubting that Sparks "Hello Young Lovers"
stood tall. In fact as a band they'd influenced all 3 of our best artists
directly or indirectly. Overblown neo-classical pop which they recreated
in full for their tour in February from the absurd "Dick Around" and "Waterproof"
to the political "Baby Baby, Can I Invade Your Country". Most artists create
the best album of their career on their debut and then offer a series of
diminishing returns...for Sparks the best album of their career came 20
albums in.

BEST LIVE ACT1. Morrissey
2. My Chemical Romance
3. Panic! At The Disco

Manchester...so much to answer for. For Morrissey, he paid the residents
back with 6 gigs over the course of the year which culminated in two gigs
which heralded the official end of G Mex as we know it. Earlier in the
year we'd seen him play an intimate gig at the Manchester Apollo for which
he was subdued and barely spoke a word. By the end of the year at G Mex
quips and jokes a plenty were thrown around about Jamie Oliver (an obese
member of the British Empire) and his intro was a series of Eurovision
clips. It was all nearly perfect but the one question we've always had
about Morrissey gigs is why are the support bands so shockingly bad.

BEST ROCK ACT1. My Chemical Romance
2. Panic! At The Disco
3. Funeral For A Friend

BEST POP ACT1. Take That
2. Lil Chris
3. Scissor Sisters

Apart from Take That 2006 was a year where tradition pop music was thrown
out the window. Westlife still droned on, McFly did about 10 million charity
singles to keep themselves in the Top 10 and if you can name any other
boy or girl bands please let us know. Although "Patience" was a solo Gary
Barlow song and their reformation meant Designer Magazine didn't get another
Mark Owen solo album, the live shows at Manchester MEN Arena and Manchester
City Ground showed just what pop had been missing out for in the post-Busted
years. Could Eton Road save the boy band formula in 2007 and be the male
Girls Aloud? Here's hoping!!!

Lil Chris couldn't have been dreamt up if we tried. After all who could
have thought that in 2006 we'd get a 16yr old kid singing along to Undertones
and Buzzcocks influenced songs with a pure pop shine. Ch-ch-checking it
out was universally sung from 8 year olds to 58 year olds and although
the album sales didn't show that we suspect many more downloaded it as
a guilty pleasure.

BEST URBAN ACT1. Public Enemy
2. Plan B
3. Akala

Back with a Paris (Guerrila Funk) produced album, Public Enemy still
maintain that all important title as most important hip hop outfit of all
time. The likes of Snoop Dogg and The Game may be able to sell out arenas
the world over, but they've done that by playing a very well oiled game
of super producers and selling themselves in the vision of the label. Like
Franks Sinatra, Public Enemy have always done it their way.

Out of the all the hyped UK Urban artists the only one to make a real
impact this year was Plan B. More Necro than Eminem who he frequently got
compared to you had to listen to the album as a full body of work, Plan
B clearly isn't a singles artist. For us though it was much better when
he dropped the acoustic guitar and hopefully the 2nd album will be less
indie-centric and deliver on the beats.

Were singles over or had downloads reinvigorated the market. Its clear
by the selections for both rock and pop singles that the market had been
substantially helped by the introduction of downloads be counted towards
chart positions and in 2007 where the single doesn't have to come in a
physical format this will surely change the market again. The most interesting
thing in 2007 will be whether inclusion of songs in adverts increases the
number of re-releases into the charts because labels wont need to take
a financial risk on finding shockingly bad music like Babylon Zoo, but
at the same time it could re-ignite the careers of several Britpop bands
whose comeback are heavily anticipated next year.

MAN OF THE YEAR1. Billy Bragg

A tour in April 2006 to stop the rise of the BNP in local elections
and also his book "The Progressive Patriot" made Bragg a real figure to
look up to. Younger fans were also introduced to Bragg's back catalogue
by the likes of Hard Fi and Jamie T who'd both talked about Bragg at length
in interviews.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR1. Imogen Heap

This eccentric musical genius recorded and produced her recent album,
released it independently and had the labels begging to license it once
the single "Hide And Seek" has been featured on the OC earlier in the year.
A genuine word of mouth phenomena that pushed music forward in the same
way Kate Bush and Bjork had done previously

For every winner there must unfortunately be a loser
and it seems that Snow Patrol are bigger losers than most for the
second year running while Heather Mills-McCartney has shown that an ugly
personality means you can go down in fire as the least attractive female
of 2006. Do you agree?